Different Kind of Magic
by LegoLissie
Summary: Harry and Ron are transported to a place where even Harry’s muggle knowledge can’t help them. And to make things even more complicated, why can’t they do magic anymore? Can they survive muggle private school? Better summary inside. HPOC, RWOC. R&R please
1. The Boredom Spell

**Poor Harry and Ron. No magic, no muggle knowledge, no clue. They are transported to a muggle American private school. But can they survive a place where the jocks are like Slytherins, the cheerleaders like Veela, and the classes are just as complicated as Snape's? Maybe, with a little bit of Hope, and Jordi. **

This was just an idea that came into my head when I was watching the GoF DVD and played the what if game with myself. I've wanted to do an HP fic for AGES but none of the ones I'd written were good enough. So finally I picked up my pen and started this.

DISCLAIMER: Hogwarts and all of its occupants belong to the amazing JKR. Anything else is mine.

Chapter One: The Boredom Spell

It was a cold and rainy day at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The Gryffindors were sitting in their common room, extraordinarily bored. In one corner by the fire, three sixth years were sitting. The girl had her nose buried in a book, as usual. The two boys sitting across from her were looking suicidal with boredom. The redhead was resting his head on his hand, a string of drool hanging from his mouth, staring at the opposite wall with his eyes out of focus. And the black haired boy was looking out the window, trying to think of something for them to do.

Exploding snap?

No, Ron had lost his pack.

Wizard Chess?

No, his own set had taken such a ferocious beating during their last game that it was in need of a repair.

He even had the crazy thought of going to the library, until he mentally smacked himself. He was sick of studying.

Suddenly, a loud bang sounded from the other side of the common room, breaking the trio out of their trances. Ron wiped the drool from his chin. Then, a putrid and absolutely horrid smell reached their nostrils. Someone had let off a dung bomb.

"Oh, _why_ does the maturity level ALWAYS drop severely in this common room?" said an exasperated Hermione. She threw down her quill, covering her nose with her robes and pulling out her wand, yelling at some third years as she went.

"I think I'll go send a letter," Harry finally said, standing up.

"Me too," said Ron, jumping out of his chair.

Leaving Hermione to restore order in the common room, the boys set off for the owlry.

"Honestly," said Ron as they climbed out of the portrait hole. "We were never that immature when we were third years."

"Hmm," said Harry absentmindedly, turning into a corridor. Ron caught up with him, grinning. "So, where are we going instead of the owlry?"

Harry grinned back. "I don't really know, I was thinking about exploring a certain section of the seventh floor, what about you?"

"Sounds good to me," said Ron, leading the way.

As they passed the classrooms they saw a numerous amount of strange occurrences, most of which were perfectly normal for them to see on a daily basis. When they walked past the Charms classroom, they saw a Ravenclaw send a toad soaring straight into Flitwick's face. Laughing as they watched it slide down his face with a trail of slime, Harry felt something hard jab him in the back of the head.

"Ouch!" he shouted. He and Ron whipped around, frowning as they saw Peeves the Poltergeist floating in front of them, making crude faces.

"Piss off, Peeves!" said Harry angrily, rubbing his head.

"Ooh, Potty got a booboo?" he asked innocently.

"Shut up, Peeves, or I'll get the Bloody Baron!" said Ron, throwing out his chest to show his prefect's badge. Harry choked back a laugh.

With one last raspberry and a large frown, Peeves disappeared around a corner.

"_What_ is so funny?" asked Ron, for Harry had finally let his laughter burst free.

"Nothing, _Percy_," replied Harry.

Ron punched his arm. "Harry! Shut up!"

They turned away from Flitwick's classroom, continuing on their way to the statue of Barnabus the Barmy. The boys met no more trouble, for they had carefully taken a detour clear from the Defense against the Dark Arts hall. Finally, they reached the blank stretch of wall that they had used so many times the previous year.

"Well," started Harry. "What do we want?"

"Hmm," said Ron, being mock-smart by stroking his chin. "The rain to stop, to pass Snape's class, Snape to die a horrible death…"

Harry laughed. "Same here, but what do we want that can actually happen?"

Ron frowned, and continued to stare at the wall, his mind blank.

But Harry had just been struck with an idea…

He walked in front of the wall three times, thinking the thought that was in his mind. Instantly, a door appeared in the wall, and he anxiously turned the knob and walked inside, Ron right behind him.

Inside the room there was a large and comfy looking sofa, stacks of books and mountains of games that stretched as high as the ceiling.

"Brilliant, Harry!" cried Ron. "What did you wish for?"

"Something to stop the boredom," said Harry simply.

Ron immediately walked over to the games, but Harry found himself wandering over to the books. He felt very Hermione-ish. He peered at some of the titles. _How to Cheat your Friends_ and_ Simple, Short Lasting but Nonetheless Effective Spells_.

"Harry, look at these!" Ron breathed, opening a box. Harry turned around, and watched as fourteen miniscule players on brooms zoomed out, following four tiny balls and two giant goal posts. The players started zooming about, and in no time the team in gold had scored a goal. "We can watch a quidditch match!"

"Brilliant!" said Harry. However, he was still immersed in the books, and when he turned around, he found something quite curious.

There was a book that most definitely wasn't there a minute ago. He bent closer to it, eyes squinting. The spine of it was faded, and it didn't have a title. Ignoring all rules about mysterious books that he had learned over the years – sometimes by first hand experience – he picked it up and turned it to a table of contents. He had barely been skimming for two seconds when a particular title caught his eye: _Bored?_

He flipped to the page indicated and saw a few paragraphs with some pictures. Strangely enough, the room in one of the pictures looked exactly like the one he and Ron were in…

"There's the Snitch! Go for it!" Ron yelled from his corner.

'_Mimble extraordina!' _Harry read. He pulled out his wand and repeated the incantation, giving it a slight flick at nothing in particular.

Nothing happened.

He looked down at the page again, his face barely an inch from it. The picture showed a door appearing. But the only door Harry saw was the one which led back to the seventh floor corridor he and Ron had entered from.

Ron appeared not to have heard him; he was too busy yelling at one of the beaters.

It was then that they heard the bell ring. Unfortunately, Herbology, which had been cancelled due to the rain, was not their last class before dinner.

"Come on," said Harry, putting the book back on the shelf. "We'll be late to Transfiguration."

Ron stood up, and with a flick of his wand replaced the miniature quidditch players and equipment, and watched as the box soared to the top of the pile. "We'll definitely have to come back here sometime," said Ron. "And bring Hermione with us, she'd enjoy those books just as much as you did. Although," he added with an afterthought, "we might never be able to get her out of here."

Harry nodded with a laugh. Yes, they definitely should come back here. Ron opened the door for them, and they both stepped out.

But it was not the seventh floor corridor that they stepped out into, in fact, that was melting away in front of them.

At the same moment, the boys looked at each other, puzzled, mouths hanging wide open. Then, again in unison, their eyes widened and they pointed to each other.

"Bloody hell!" shouted Ron. "Harry, your clothes!"

"_Your_ clothes!"

They were no longer in their Hogwarts uniforms, but were wearing grey dress pants and white blouses, with burgundy and navy striped ties, and navy blazers. On the breast pocket of the blazers was a school crest, and it definitely didn't include lions, badgers, serpents, and ravens.

And the statue of Barnabus the Barmy wasn't across from them, either. Instead, there was a door.

A door that read _Headmaster's office_.


	2. Appleby Academy

Chapter Two

The bell rang and the class jumped up and practically ran to the door, hoping not to get any homework. But their teacher was too quick for them. "Homework!" he shouted, jumping to the door and standing in front of it, "Page five hundred forty on my desk Thursday! You are dismissed," he added in a nicer tone.

"And we almost got away with it, too," Hope sighed.

"There's always next week, I suppose," replied Jordi.

Jordi and Hope were best friends. Jordi had creamy, almost white blonde hair, blue eyes, and was a little short in height. Hope had dark hair, forest-green eyes, and a major crush on, in her opinion, the most gorgeous guy in school. Both were sixteen, roommates, and had a knack for getting into trouble.

"Hey, what about those foreign exchange students?" Hope asked, casting a glance up and down the hall for any new faces.

"Yeah, the ones from the UK? Weren't they supposed to come today?"

They had been over this a million times.

"I wonder if they're guys?" Jordi wondered aloud.

"I hope so," said Hope. "And that they're hot."

"Do they speak English?"

"Duh, they're from the UK, not France!"

"Well, I hope we get French boys next, because the only French words I know are _ooh la la, _and _oui oui!_" said Jordi with a giggle.

"I wonder if they'll be in our house?" said Hope.

The housing system at their school involved three dorms, or houses, that went by the names Elkhart, Spence, and Phelps. Jordi and Hope were in the Elkhart house. The houses weren't competitive, they were just for boarding and class organizational purposes.

"Maybe we'll get the chance to be their guides!" sighed Jordi.

"True, that _would_ rock, but we mustn't get our hopes up!"

Jordi snorted.

"What?" asked Hope.

"I still can't et over the fact of how funny it is when you say things like that, Hope!"

"Oh, shut up," she sighed. "We'd better hurry, we'll be late to Chem."

Jordi groaned. "Can't we skip for once?"

"That would be fun, but not today. We've got that huge lab today that's worth a quarter of our grade."

"I hate Burns," muttered Jordi angrily. Mr. Burns taught their chemistry class, and they hated him, along with the class itself. Burns was always grouchy, the material was so hart to grasp, and the most _annoying_ people were in their class. Leslie and Chloe, two cheerleaders, stuck up, loud, stupid, and on Jordi's and Hope's hit list. (A/N: Nothing against cheerleaders, these two are just annoying antagonists)

"Excuse me," said a male voice. Both girls turned around, and Hope's face went instantly pale, then a deep plum just as fast.

Carter Sands was standing in front of them, and a slightly annoyed look was on his face. His blonde hair fell into his brown eyes at just the perfect angle, making him look extra handsome.

"Could you please move? You're clogging the hall."

Hope dropped her books. Carter rolled his eyes as he stepped over the pile of books and walked away.

"Can you believe it?" said Hope excitedly. "He talked to me!"

"I don't know what the big deal is," said Jordi, bending down to help Hope pick up her books. He just asked you to move. And he didn't even help you pick up your stuff!"

"So?" replied Hope.

"You know, Hope?" said Jordi, rolling her eyes. "It's times like these you don't live up to your name."

"Oh, shut up," said Hope, standing up and starting to walk again.

Unfortunately, she ran into something quite solid that made her drop her books again.

.o.

Harry and Ron stood outside the Headmaster's office, quite clueless on what to do, and how they had gotten there in the first place.

"Harry," said Ron slowly. "Where are we?"

Harry slowly looked around. He'd never seen this place before in his life. He felt extremely stupid and a little scared as he replied "I don't know." Instinctively, he reached for his wand.

But all he felt was the soft fabric of his pocket. "MY wand!" he cried. "It's gone!"

Ron dug through his pockets as well. "Mine's gone too!"

"Brilliant," groaned Harry. What had he gotten them into? The last time he'd lost his wand, the situation had been just as bad, if not worse.

"Can't we do nonverbal spells without a wand?" asked Ron desperately. "I've seen Dad do it sometimes."

Harry tried to concentrate on making a nearby picture zoom off a wall, but nothing happened.

"I can't do it!" he cried. He and Ron exchanged glances.

"Harry? How did we get here?"

Harry shifted his feet guiltily. But before he could even think of an answer, the door in front of them flew open, and out stepped a woman in a fancy work suit.

"Foreign students?" she asked. "You're late. Please come in, the Headmaster is waiting for you." And she grabbed their arms and pulled them into the office, and through another door.

A man with shoulder length white hair pulled back into a low ponytail sat behind a large and magnificent desk. Pictures were hung all over the walls, and in one corner of the room was a fireplace. A large window behind the desk revealed large, flat, brilliantly green lawns and woods off in the distance.

The man clapped his hands together and greeted the extremely confused boys. "Welcome! I am Headmaster Spence –" he leaned forward and shook their hands, and the boys mumbled things like "Nice to meet you" and "Hello".

" - and welcome to Appleby Academy!"

The man spoke with a clear American accent, so they were definitely far from home.

"I trust you have enjoyed your travel to New York?"

Harry and Ron nodded automatically.

"Excellent. Now, you'll need your information about Appleby." He cleared his throat, as if to show the importance of what he was about to tell them. "Appleby has always taken great pride of the welfare of this school and its occupants. We take only the top students of their grade –" the boys immediately thought of Hermione – "and by the looks of your grade reports… my, my, you two could be the next Albert Einsteins!"

"Who?" Ron blurted out. Harry threw him a warning look, but Headmaster Spence just laughed. "And the boy has a sense of humor! 'Who's Einstein'… Did you hear him, Helga?" The secretary gave a quick and merry chuckle. Harry played along, and with a swift kick from Harry, Ron gave a loud, false laugh as well.

"Anyway," continued Spence, "I won't pretend the rules at shis school are unimportant. Absolutely _no one_ is allowed out of their house after eleven PM. The kitchen closes at nine PM and opens at six AM. The library hours are six AM to ten-thirty PM. You'll never have the same class two days in a row. Here are your schedules, and a map." He slid the papers forward to them. "And your house is Elkhart. Shame, really," he added. My own house was Spence, obviously. My great-great-great grandfather founded it. But Elkhart is a good house. And while you spend your time here at Appleby, your house is sort of like your family. You'll have all of your classes with your house, you'll share a dormitory with the people of your house, and share a common room with them. If you are interested in sports, tryouts are coming up."

He paused, looking at the boys, taking in their appearance. He seemed particularily interested in Harry's scar, for he looked at that the longest.

"That's an interesting scar, Mr. –"

"Potter, sir, Harry Potter."

"Yes, Mr. Potter. How did you come by such an injury?"

Harry hesitated at answering this question. This man had to be a muggle, and if he told him, he would risk the exposure of his and Ron's world, and he would be expelled from Hogwarts for sure – not that it mattered right now, anyway.

"A car accident, sir," replied Harry, remembering what the Dursleys told him over five years ago.

"Interesting," said Spence, scratching his eyebrow. "And your name is?" he asked, turning to Ron.

"Ron Weasley," Ron replied in a confused manner.

Their new headmaster smiled. "Welcome to Appleby Academy."

.o.

"I can't believe this," said Ron as they stepped out of the office a minute later. "It's like they _knew_ we were coming!"

"Yeah," said Harry slowly. "It's like they were expecting us…" Harry shook his head, as if to clear it. "No matter now, we've got to learn how to survive here. What class have we got?"

"Uh," said Ron, pulling out his schedule. "Chemistry with Bur – OW!" he shouted, for something quite solid had run into him and dropped books on his foot.

.o.

Sorry if there are typos, I just had to type this up real fast. Need… sleep…

And thanks for the reviews for last chapter!... could you do it again?


	3. Chemistry

Chapter Three

"Oh, God, I'm sorry!" Hope cried, her face reddening as she bent down to pick up her books.

"Aaah…" moaned Ron as he tried to grab his foot and bend down to help the girl pick up her books – heavy books.

"I'm so sorry –"

"Totally fine –"

"It's been a clumsy, weird day –"

"You have NO idea –"

They looked up at each other, and Hope's face got even redder than Ron's hair, if possible. They both cleared their throats awkwardly, and Ron gave her the books.

"I really am sorry!" she cried.

"It's fine," said Ron, trying to smile.

"Are you guys the new students?" Jordi asked, as if trying to break the awkward and uncomfortable moment.

"Yes," Harry replied.

"Really?" said Jordi and Hope at the same time, Jordi a little more enthusiastically.

"What house are you in?"

"Erm…" said Harry, pulling out his schedule. "Elkhart."

Jordi let out a small squeal. "So are we! So that means you're in all our classes, and in our dorm – the boys' side at least – do you guys need a guide?"

"Really? That would be fantastic!" said Harry, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Well, I guess it's off to Burn's class for Chemistry!"

"Chemistry?" said Harry and Ron together as they followed the two girls, Hope trying to hide her face.

"So it's like Potions, right?" Ron asked. Harry shook his head out of shame.

"Potions? Where did you guys come from, a Wizarding School?"

Harry gave a nervous, and what he hoped was a convincing laugh. "No, just trying to make a joke…"

"Oh, don't worry, it was still funny," said Jordi. "What are your names, by the way?"

"I'm Harry Potter, and this is Ron Weasley."

"Those are nice names – very British. I'm Jordi Rogers, and this is Hope Danes."

"Hello," said Harry.

"Nice to meet you," mumbled Hope and Ron together.

"Well, here's Burn's class!" said Jordi in what she hoped was a bright voice.

Harry and Ron felt as though there was a spotlight on them as they entered the room just as the bell rang. Jordi and Hope quickly led them to two empty seats by where they sat in the room. As soon as they sat down, Burns slammed the door.

"Good morning," he said coldly. The room was always chilly, but for more than the temperature. "Before we get down to business, I see we have two new students with us. Would they please stand up?"

Harry, Ron, Hope, and Jordi all shot each other looks as the boys slowly stood up. Leslie and Chloe eyed them like they would to an ice cream sundae.

"Your names?" asked Burns sharply.

"Harry Potter."

"Ron Weasley."

"British lads?" said Burns in quite an accurate U.K. accent. They nodded. "Here are your books." Harry and Ron walked up to his desk to retrieve them. "I trust that you both are up to date on your information about this science?"

"Aaah…"

"Well…"

"Yes, sir, they are," said Hope, quite unexpectedly. Harry, Ron, Jordi, and half the class turned to look at her.

"Miss Danes! I believe I was addressing Potter and Weasley."

"I'm sorry, sir, but I – we – were just talking about it outside. You see, we're – Jordi and I –" Jordi threw her a look. She didn't want to be dragged into this too. "We're their student guides, and they're dealing with electrons, just like we are now," Hope finished.

Burns scanned over the four faces, and the boys felt like they were under Moody's magical eye.

"Very well," he said finally, and they all breathed again. "You may sit down." Harry and Ron quickly moved back to their seats, Harry behind Jordi and Ron behind Hope. "Thanks," Ron muttered in her ear.

"It's the least I could do, you know, for the whole book incident."

"Now, today, as most of you know, you're doing a lab. Now, this is not just ANY lab, this one is worth twenty-five percent of your grade. So I highly recommend doing this extremely accurately. Here are your instructions –" he pointed to a pile of papers, "- and you know where to find your goggles and keys. You may begin."

The class jumped up to get their equipment.

"Oh, Potter, Weasley, you can work by Rogers and Danes, if you wish."

"Come on," said Jordi, handing a pair of goggles to both Harry and Ron as Hope grabbed the key to their lab drawer and their instructions.

"What do we need to do, Hope?" Jordi asked.

"Uh…" started Hope, staring at the paper. Harry and Ron stared at the equipment on their lab table. There was a very long glass thermometer, two beakers, one extremely large, the other two hundred fifty milliliters. There was also a bottle of something labeled HCl. Out of curiosity, Ron put his finger into the beaker. But his fingertips were barely an inch from the liquid danger when Hope jumped.

"Ron!" she hissed, grabbing his hand and pulling it out. "That is Hydrochloric Acid!"

"Huh?"

"Hydrochloric Acid! It'll burn your skin off!" she said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh, right…" he said, hoping he sounded convincing. "Sorry – I didn't see the label…"

Hope looked convinced enough, Ron thought as she turned to the directions again.

"Um, Hope?" said Jordi after a minute. "Could Ron have his hand back?"

"Oh, my bad," said Hope, drawing back and turning pink. For some reason, he didn't want her to.

"Hmm…" said Hope. "Well, we fill this beaker with the water," she indicated the large one, "first to two fifty milliliters, and then add two fifty each time until we get to a thousand, taking the mass of the beaker each time. Could someone fill this one up to two fifty and dump it into the huge one?"

She held up the smaller beaker. Ron and Jordi both reached for the beaker at the exact same time, and it was knocked out of Hope's hand. It fell to the floor, the glass dancing around their feet.

Well, breaking something was certainly a good way to get someone's attention, thought Harry. Actually, more than someone – the whole class looked over. Burns just shook his head.

"You're new," he said. "Just get another out of the cabinet, and clean up the mess."

Jordi nodded and walked very quickly to the cabinet, head down.

Ron immediately bent down to help Hope and Harry pick up the pieces. "I'm so sorry," he muttered. "I – I don't know what's wrong with me today." He glanced more at Harry when he said this, and Harry raised his eyebrows as if to say "You have NO idea".

"It's fine, don't worry about it," said Hope. "You're in a new school, it doesn't surprise me that you're nervous, and it's a whole new country that you're in, too. Even Burns understands, which never hap – OUCH!"

"What is going on over there?" cried Burns, standing up to see their lab table.

"Sorry, sir, I just – cut my hand –" Hope said, wincing.

Ron and Harry peered at her hand, just as Jordi came over with the new beaker.

"Oh, Hope, it looks like there's still some glass lodged in your hand," said Jordi, stroking Hope's hair to comfort her.

"Ow," she said weakly, starting to look woozy, the blood pouring from her palm.

"Oh, geez," sighed Burns. "Miss Danes, are you alright?" Hope shook her head, eyes welling up with tears. Fine – Weasley, right? – You take her to the nurse. Maybe you'll learn how to navigate around the school a little more. Rogers and Potter, you can clean up this mess. And please be careful."

Ron took Hope's arm that was attatched to her uninjured hand to help her up.

"C'mon, it'll be alright," Ron said softly. Hope sniffled. Ron's hand automatically reached for his wand before he remembered that it wasn't there anymore. So instead, he decided to comfort her with words, since spells wouldn't work, as she led the way to the hospital wing – er, 'nurse's office'.

"I'm sorry this had to happen , it's all my fault –"

"No, it's fine, it's not that big of a deal –"

"I cut your hand open!"

"Worse things have happened to me – I guess this is payback for dropping those books on your foot…"

"We're off to a great start, aren't we?" said Ron, slowing down.

Hope sighed, giving a small laugh. "Yeah."

"Want to start over?"

Hope nodded.

Ron held out his hand "I'm Ron Weasley."

"Pleased to meet you, Ron. I'm Hope Danes."

And they shook hands.

.o.

Sorry about the long wait for an update… its been a rough few weeks for me. Can I have chapter dedications? Well, I am. **To John… my favorite Texan in all the world.**


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